Professor Norah Dunbar in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara has received a nearly $600,000 research grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to study how trust develops in teams and how it influences performance. The project is titled ”AI-based Characterization of Trust and Dominance for Team Performance.” Conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Southern California, the project will examine how subtle communication behaviors—such as nonverbal signals, interpersonal synchrony, and displays of dominance—shape trust among team members.
Although trust is widely recognized as essential for effective teamwork, scientists still do not fully understand how it forms or how it changes over time. Dunbar’s team will investigate these dynamics by observing teams working together across multiple sessions and by analyzing patterns in how people communicate verbally and nonverbally. The project will also develop new artificial intelligence tools that can automatically analyze team interactions, helping researchers identify behaviors that signal trust, influence, and cooperation. These tools may ultimately make it possible to measure complex team processes more accurately than ever before.
By combining communication theory with advanced machine learning methods, the research aims to produce new insights into how strong, effective teams are built and sustained. The findings may inform strategies for improving collaboration in high-stakes environments, from military operations to business, healthcare, and other team-based settings.